Gradual Student

Trumpeter Lee Morgan--known for a powerhouse sound, a crack technique and tunes with enchanting melodies and finger-popping rhythms--was just 33 when he died in 1972, but his influence in jazz has been long-lasting.

Among the many fans and musicians drawn to Morgan’s work has been Danton Boller, an outstanding bassist from Huntington Beach, born the same year Morgan was shot and killed in a New York jazz club.

Boller found himself seriously studying the trumpeter last summer. He was buying as much Morgan as he could find, feasting on such albums as “The Sidewinder,” “The Gigolo” and “Search for the New Land.” The effect was immediate and powerful.

“Lee was a bad cat,” says Boller, who has a big sound and a supple rhythmic sense, like his idols Paul Chambers and Ray Brown. “He’s definitely one of my favorite musicians. His playing had such a great, soulful quality, and he wrote melodies that are so hip, as are the grooves he applies to them.”

As chance would have it, when Boller played on a job in San Diego this fall led by friend and trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, many Morgan tunes were performed. The bassist had such a joyous time that he wanted to repeat the experience in his neck of the woods.

So he will. On Saturday, Boller gathers Castellanos, pianist Cecilia Coleman, saxophonist Phil Vieux and drummer Thomas White and heads into Steamers in Fullerton. The quintet will play mostly Morgan.

On tap will be such solid Morgan numbers as “Gary’s Notebook” and “Totem Pole” (both from “The Sidewinder”), “Mr. Kenyatta” (from “Search for the New Land”), the standard “You Go to My Head” (which Morgan recorded on “The Gigolo”), “Absolution” (from “Live at the Lighthouse”) and “Sincerely Diana” and “Yama,” both recorded when the trumpeter was a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. The charts for the tunes will be provided by Castellanos and Boller, who transcribed the pieces off recordings.

Boller is anticipating having a ball for many reasons. One is the opportunity to get together in one spot with players he has worked with on separate jobs; in addition to performing with Castellanos, he has appeared with Vieux off and on for about two years, and he has recently been a member of Coleman’s trio. “I think these people will make a great combination,” he says in a phone interview from his home.

Another factor is that Boller not only likes Morgan’s tunes, but he also knows them. “I’ve been listening to this music for six months,” he says. “So often, you’re playing people’s originals that you have just rehearsed. Here I have focused on the material for some time. And we’ll get to play tunes that you won’t with someone else.”

And in fresh ways. “Like ‘Absolution,’ which Lee did as kind of a collective improvisation. You usually can’t do that on somebody else’s gig. They’ll think you’re crazy.”

*

Boller works fairly regularly at Steamers. He’s in the band that leads Steamers Jazz Jam on Sundays, and he and guitarist Steve Cotter appear at the room about twice a month; they perform next on Jan. 7. To close 1996, Boller will appear with Coleman’s quartet on New Year’s Eve.

“Terrence is cool,” Boller says of Steamers owner Terrence Love. “I like the fact that he promotes jazz. Steamers is one of the few clubs in Orange County where you can play jazz and really play.”

Boller, who was born in Gary, Ind., studied piano, then trumpet, then electric bass, which he picked up at age 11, two years before he moved with his family to Huntington Beach. He switched to upright--his specialty--in 1989, when he appeared with a straight-ahead band at the Los Angeles Classic Jazz Festival.

He fell in love with modern jazz the year before, sparked by Clint Eastwood’s film “Bird.” “I thought that was hip, and I started hanging around with people who thought that jazz was cool, and it became the thing,” he says.

Boller, a graduate of Marina High School in Huntington Beach and grad-to-be of Cal State Long Beach, where he’s a senior majoring in performance, is little by little building a name for himself. And he’s getting to play with some of the masters, as he did last weekend with drum wizard Billy Higgins, who performed on several of Morgan’s finest recordings.

“Phil Vieux called me on Saturday [and] said he needed a bassist for a job at the World Stage” in Los Angeles’ Crenshaw district as part of a daylong celebration for actress-activist Marla Gibbs, Boller says. “And there I was, playing with Billy. I kept turning around and looking at him. It was such a great thing. I was hearing him and feeling him and then looking back and seeing him. It was a dream come true.”

* Danton Boller plays Saturday, 8:30 p.m., at Steamers Cafe, 138 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton. No cover, two-drink minimum. (714) 871-8800.